It was reported in the news yesterday that former President Gerald Ford was hospitalized again.
http://www.cnn.com/...
President Ford is 93 years old. Within the last two years, he has suffered two mild strokes, had pneumonia, had a pacemaker inserted, and has had two stents put in.
I'm not a doctor, but this seems like an awful lot for a 93 year old person to go through.
With President Ford in the hospital now, how would the country respond if President Ford died?
I'm sure we all remember how the media led for two straight weeks with the death of Ronald Reagan during the summer of the presidential campaign. According to Pew research, and trumpeted by the Washington Times, Bush's approval ratings went up six points in the month following Reagan's death.
http://washingtontimes.com/...
Granted, President Ford is not the GOP rock star that Ronald Reagan was, but his death, funeral, eulogies, positive biographical stories on the news are all plenty to dominate the news cycle for a large chunk of time and put out a positive GOP narrative. Foley, Abramoff, State of Denial, Iraq, all would be ignored for two weeks.
IMHO, President Ford's death would be quite the October surprise for the GOP.
I would also advise President Ford to not allow Rove to visit him until after the election.